2014 Los Angeles/Las Vegas – Isaac Han

Desiring Family

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” -John 10:10

This was my first ministry trip with New Philly, and I can confidently say it is an unforgettable one. So much has happened in such a short amount of time. It took our team three different debriefing meetings to process all the glory after the trip. The trip was filled with so much power, fire, revelations, breakthrough, testimonies, healings, and new levels of authority. I felt like our team was truly a small but mighty one, not only in numbers but also in experience.

Our team consisted of six reserve leaders and four active leaders, two of whom were our team preachers- Pastors Christian and Erin. Up until this trip I had only two previous encounters with Pastor Christian and Erin, and both times the extent of our conversation was hello, goodbye, and a lot smiles and nodding. We were all fresh faces to each other, fairly new leaders, and on top of that mostly all introverts. For some of us, this was the first time we’d been given a platform to minister in a missional or ministry aspect. I imagined that there would be a lot of speculation about the legitimacy of our team, but all I can say was that it was divine. Throughout the trip there was no room for lack because the grace of God was there to cover it all!

But in the beginning, to be honest, I had no desire to get to know any of the team members on this trip, and I had no expectation that any relationships would be formed. For me my mindset was, “You do you and I’ll do me.” I had this mentality starting from the first time I met my team and all throughout the missions training process. It even lingered into the first couple days of our ministry trip, and I really thought that it would be okay as long as God used me. However I soon realized that God’s design for us wasn’t just to be a team of individuals, but as a family.

During our first evening service, as we began ministering at Burning Tree Ministry of Thanksgiving Church in LA, my selfish mindset and hardened heart quickly melted. I saw my team ministering with so much authority, boldness, and power. God began to open my eyes and heart to the point where I became filled with joy and honor because I started to understand that He had appointed, so powerfully wanted to use, this divine family. I was so proud to minister alongside these powerful men and women of God. It was a key moment of realization for me. That night God gave me a glimpse of what was to come, and a fresh revelation of the power and fire of God that comes from operating as a family. There’s something powerful about family and He wanted to use us make it known to the cities that we were ministering in.

Without me even knowing it, God was doing a deep work in me. Through the divine relationships and creatively intricate moments, by the end of the trip God was revealing to me a deep issue that I’d been carrying and the walls that I’ve unknowingly built up. He revealed my issues with natural family, through the spiritual family that He has placed around me. My initial way of thinking when I first met the team- “You do you, I’ll do me,” stemmed from an orphan spirit and deeper issues of trust and fear. Areas I thought I’d already dealt with were actually not fully attended to and healed. So lies in the past like, “You’re not a good son, and you’re not a good brother” still kept me in bondage.

However, God placed me around people who truly know how to love, and that love broke my old mindset of what family looks like. I’ve never felt so loved and edified before in my life. The team showed me so much love that it got uncomfortable, and almost to the point of being overwhelming. That’s when I realized that encouragement is meant for edification, and it’s at the point of edification that you truly start to feel chains being broken off. By the end of the trip I realized the powerful breakthrough that I just had, but I would never have guessed the amazing breakthrough God had in store for me next.

My ministry trip ended, but to be real, ministry never ends. The breakthrough that I had was not only for me, but for my natural family. Everything that happened throughout the ministry trip is a set up for me to minister to my family back in LA. God really prepared me through the ministry trip in order for restoration and healing to start taking place in my natural family. I had come to a point where I was almost hopeless and okay with my broken relationship with my family, and had no real desire to see it change. But God has given me new revelations and renewed my paradigm of the word “family.” He has brought back His original design for what a family should. Jesus says in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” The enemy tries to kill, steal and destroy family because he knows the importance of it. But the amazing thing is, God desires for families to thrive, more than the enemy desires to destroy it!

Thank you, Itaewon Family, for keeping our team in prayer and for celebrating the testimonies with us. The experiences I had through the ministry trip and the breakthrough in my family are testimonies for you to claim as well. May 2014 be a year of powerful restoration and breakthrough in all of our families. Thank you!